Skip to main content

tv   ABC World News With Diane Sawyer  ABC  September 3, 2010 6:30pm-7:00pm EDT

6:30 pm
tonight on "world news," the hurricane on the move. where earl is right now, and why so many americans traveling through new england are on alert. we're along the coast tonight. more jobs lost, and the president just today taking the republicans on. are they standing in the way? the feds take aim at the controversial sheriff at the center of the immigration storm. and that sheriff tells abc news tonight the feds should be thanking him. the whistle blowers and those tainted eggs. tonight, what they saw and what they warned. and, did you see the unlikely star who stood up right in the middle of the emmys this week again and again and again? tonight, she stands up right here as our "person of the week." and good evening on this friday night. that unwelcome holiday guest, hurricane earl on the move right now.
6:31 pm
monster winds and driving rains. here's the track. now moving up the coast of new england. earl reaching speeds up to 85 miles an hour today. 25 million people still in its path. here are the live pictures coming in right now. huge waves this evening and the ocean churning, and john berman is live in new york. john, good evening to you. >> reporter: good evening, david. well, the ewe of the storm right now is about 150 miles that way, and as you can see, it's kicking up pretty serious waves here. the highest waves at this beach today were about 15 feet. they have come crashing all the way to where i'm standing right now. this is normally a pretty wide beach. now nothing here at all. they have shut down the trains to this part of long island no more ferry service here. they're expecting top winds to reach 50 miles an hour. going to get rain here. but the real issue, the waves. david, there's only one way in and oument of this part of long island. i noticed all the cars were still coming this way from new
6:32 pm
york city, so, people not scared to come spend the holiday weekend here, even with this weather. david? >> very soaked john berman, prooch that earl has arrived. we want to move north to cape cod, massachusetts, the calm before the storm there, and linsey davis on the beach there. good evening to you. >> reporter: good evening, david. earl is expected to hit cape cod later on tonight, as a category 1 hurricane. still, david, a very serious storm. eastern massachusetts is bracing itself. >> the threat to the public remains through tonight. >> the governor says they're prepared. utility crews are at the ready. the state even recruited inmates to fill sandbags. >> we have gone from 3 to a category 1 hurricane. >> reporter: this is the strongest hurricane to threaten new england since hurricane bob killed 20 people in 1991. the worst of earl is expected to hit here, cape cod, massachusetts.
6:33 pm
recently named one of the top ten labor day december nargss. the popular resort area has a year-round population of more than 200,000 people. the island normally swells by 50,000 this weekend, but the chamber of commerce says they've lost about 10% of that to earl. jordan waited until this morning to evacuate. >> we just didn't feel like it was safe, just in case they close the bridges to the cape. >> reporter: now, the bridges remain open to the main land. they'll only close if the winds exceed 70 miles an hour. but david, that's still very possible. >> we see the fog rolling in there. linsey davis, thank you. this morning, we woke up and many of the headlines were that the carolinas dodged a bullet. but then the pictures started coming in. steve osunsami rode out the worst of the storm in knacks head, north carolina. >> reporter: the storm passed within 85 miles of the outer banks, in the middle of the night, with five feet of storm surge in some places and wind speeds that reached more than
6:34 pm
80 miles an hour. it's midnight and the storm is moving in. we were in the thick of it. at midnight, at 2:00 a.m., and just before sunrise, when the winds howled. it's pretty strong. streets flooded, a few buildings were damaged, power lines had to be repaired. but in the words of north carolina's governor today -- >> we dodged a bullet, purely and simply. >> reporter: today, many residents who evacuated were allowed to come home. >> just a lot of wind and rain. >> it's not as bad as it could have been, it could have been a lot worse. >> reporter: at hurricane mo's, mo opened for business, but the evacuation means fewer customers this labor day weekend. >> it's going to put a hurting on us. >> reporter: there is a feeling here of relief that no one was hurt and that everyone will here will bounce back quickly. david? >> steve osunsami. the national hurricane center is tracking earl as we move into this holiday weekend. and so we turn to bill read again tonight, the head of the national hurricane center. bill, where is earl right now
6:35 pm
and how long before we're out of the woods on this? >> right now, earl is south of new england and moving northeast at over 20 miles an hour. it will speed up overnight, come just south of nantucket and cape cod, and then move off into the canadian maritimes during the day on saturday. so, after people get up saturday morning, the skies are going to start clearing. >> that is the good news. you told me earlier that you have your eye on several systems already in the pipeline. >> this is the wave that with us gaston. another wave that came off of africa yesterday. these are ones that we are watching for potential development. and you can see the clusers of storms making their way from east to west across africa. once they come out in the tropical atlantic, we'll have a better feel as to whether they become an issue or not. >> bill read, thank you. and, of course, not in the clear from earl yet. but we do turn now to the political storm brewing in washington over the new jobs numbers out today. this country lost another 54,000 jobs in august, and the
6:36 pm
president today took on the republicans, saying they're the ones blocking help for small business. that, in a moment, but first, the numbers. word that the nation's employ r employeers cut another 54,000 jobs in august, marks the third month in a row that this country has seen a net los of jobs. but some economists say there is still a silver lining. if you take away the 115,000 temporary jobs, a slightly different picture. the private sector actually adding 76,000 workers in august. health care and construction leading the way. and that comes after the pry vac sector added 107,000 in just, 61,000 in june. it's growth, but not the number needed to keep one the nearly 15 million americans still looking for work. and as i mentioned, the president was quick today to frame the numbers his way and so lea learn's turn right now to jake tapper. >> reporter: the president today tried to put a sunny face on the end of the so-called recovery summer. >> now that's positive news. >> reporter: he emphasized the
6:37 pm
modest private sector job growth and didn't mention that august saw a net loss of jobs because of the end of those temporary census jobs. the underwhelming recovery of recovery summer has given republicans campaign ammo. >> recovery summer has become the summer of despair. >> reporter: to help create jobs for those out of work, the president continued to push a lending initiative he said could help provide credit to small businesses. >> republicans in the senate have blocked this bill. a needless delay that has led small business owners across the country to put off hiring, cut off expanding and put off plans that will make our economy stronger. >> reporter: beginning monday, the president will be outlining a number of other relatively small-bore measures. more money spent on insfra structure. a research tax credit. and other ways to encourage small business investment. everything i hear out of this administration is relatively modest compared to what many economists are pushing and compared to what the original stimulus was. >> you know, for this economy to
6:38 pm
come back, it's going to have to be the private sector that comes back. what we're talking about now is not a second stimulus, it's targeted measures. but they can make an appreciable difference. >> reporter: some liberal economists maintain the problem was that last year's $864 billion stimulus package was not enough. >> but it was obvious from the beginning that it was too small. he clearly needs more. the economy needs more. we need a real effort to get this economy moving. >> reporter: republicans argue businesses are loathe to invest when facing new taxes, mandates and regulations. >> this administration has done a lot to discourage business from growing and hiring and that's the problem. >> jake, you heard senator mcconnell say the president has done a lot to discourage business. the president saying the republicans are getting in the way of helping small business. so, how do you cut through it? >> reporter: well, they both have a point to make. and this is what we're going to be hearing from now until the november mid-term elections.
6:39 pm
there is evidence that, of course, republicans have been obstructing the small business lending initiative and there is evidence that many small businesses are waiting for that credit. and many business leader boss say that it is the uncertainty of many of the obama administration's priorities and legislation that has kept them from spending money. so, these are the arguments we're going to be hearing for the coming months. >> all right, jake tapper, thank you. we're going to turn now to the controversial sheriff in arizona who is now the target of federal investigators. joe arpaio, the outspoken sheriff who has made no se vet of going after illegal immigrants stands accused of violating the rights of hispanics now. our pie year thomas called up the sheriff, and he's firing back tonight. >> we're trying to get the job done, okay? >> reporter: arizona's joe arpaio joaio the self-proclaimed toughest sheriff. >> i'm an equal opportunity law enforcement g we lock up everybody.
6:40 pm
>> reporter: relentless in his pursuit of illegal immigrants. >> this sheriff is going to go out and enforce the law. >> reporter: but now sheriff joe is in the sig justice department, under investigatiosibl violating the civil rights of latinos. therf unlawful searches and seizures, discriminatory police conduct and a failure to provide basic services to individuals with limited english. and this week, the justice department did something it had not done in 30 years. it filed a lawsuit accusing the sheriff of trying to block their civil rights investigation of his depar the sheriff's reaction -- defiance. >> the people of arizona that they're going against. using me at a puppet. >> reporter: today, he was still angry. >> the federal government should be thanking me, thanking me for all the work we are doing assisting them. >> reporter: what do you say when you say you're stone walling? >> we're not. they have received thousands and thousands of our documents. >> reporter: does your
6:41 pm
department discriminate? >> we do not. we do not racial profile. >> reporter: don't expect arpaio to change. he's not up for re-election until 2012, but he's already raised roughly $2 million, much of it from out of state. being tough on illegal immigration has been good politics. the question tonight is, whether taking on the justice department is good politics, too. pierre thomas, abc news, washington. >> ourpierre. now to iraq tonight, where we marked a major milestone, iraqi forces taking over. so, dan harris returns the baghdad with a simple question -- was the war worth it? and what a difference, in what he heard seven years later. >> reporter: it was amid the ink-stained giddiness of iraq's first democratic elections that we first met this schoolteacher. >> this mark means my whole life. >> reporter: over the subsequent years, as iraq descended into sectarian madness, i interviewed her several more times, and she remained relentlessly upbeat. why are you optimistic? what gives you this hope?
6:42 pm
>> because i love my country. >> reporter: today, she's a newly wed. can i see the ring? >> yes. >> reporter: very nice. good job. things may be good in her personal life, but as american troops leave, while the iraqi government is mired in political paralysis, her view of the future has changed. >> dark one. i see a dark one, really. >> reporter: you see a dark future? >> yes. >> reporter: if the americans leave, it will be a dark future? >> yes. >> reporter: but she says that dark future is still better than the past under saddam. looking back, was it worth it? >> for us, of course. >> reporter: for you, yes. >> yes, yes. >> reporter: when we first met stephen browning in 2003, he was a can-do american, freshly arrived to help rebuild iraq, as part of the pentagon's temporary government. >> i personally believe that there is no mission in the world more important than the mission that we are doing right here in this country today. >> reporter: today, he's a father of two, living outside of
6:43 pm
denver, and his assessment of the war now genuinely surprised me. you don't think it was worth it? >> i don't. we'll see. maybe iraq will be a shining star of democracy in the middle east. i just don't see it happening. >> reporter: this boy appeared in an abc news story in 2007. at age 12, he was working in a mechanic's shop because his father, the bredwinner, had died during the invasion. "i dream," he told us, "of going back to school." but three years later, we found him, still at work. i met this shia sheikh in 2003 when he was a serious 29-year-old. he is now a militia leader who is still anti-american that our local staff said interviewing him would be, quote, like throwing yourself into the abyss. perhaps the most moving reconnection we were able to make involved this family. abc news first interviewed them
6:44 pm
in 2008. after an american air strike destroyed their house and killed their 2-year-old son, ali. ali's mother told us then that they'd wanted to move, but didn't have the money. "i begged my husband to leave the house when the fighting began," she told us, "but he said if we die, we will die together." a viewer bought them a new house, which they proudly showed off to us the other day, along with their new son, also named ali. he looks astonishingly like his older brother. his father told us that despite all he'd been through, he was grateful to american forces for toppling saddam. his wife, however, struck a different note, saying the americans should leave, that they'd killed too many children for nothing. "the death of my son," she said, "left a hole in my heart." dan harris, abc news, baghdad.
6:45 pm
>> and still ahead here on "world news" this friday night, the whistle blowers and those tainted eggs. what they saw, what they warned. out of bounds what was this at the u.s. open? huge fights during tennis? and, later here, did you see this woman? the woman that had so many people wondering during the emmys this week, who is she? s tonight, she's our "person of the week." well-being. we're all striving for it. purina cat chow helps you urture it in your cat with a full family of excellent nutrition and helpful resources. purina cat chow. share a better life.
6:46 pm
[ male announcer ] ever have morning pain slow you down? introducing bayer am, an extra strength pain reliever with alertness aid to fight fatigue. so get up and get goin'! with new bayer am. the morning pain reliever. with new bayer am. for constipation relief... nothing works etter than miralax. it's he one. the one recommended by more doctors. only miralax is clincally proven to relieve constipation ith no harsh side effects. miralax is the only one. restore your body's naural rhythm with miralax.
6:47 pm
100% natural nuts and granola in bite sized clusters. it's a little bit of nature... a little bit better. and nature approves. granola nut clusters from nature valley. there are new allegations tonight the federal government ignored warnings about those tainted eggs that sickened ne nearly 1,500 people nationwide. tonight what the whistle blower says they saw and warned about. here's lisa stark. >> reporter: when fda inspectors went into the giant wright county egg facilities in iowa last month, what they found was shocking, including eight-foot piles of manure and rodents. two former workers say they
6:48 pm
tried to sound the alarm for years, but were ignored. >> i seen junk coming in on the belts where the eggs come from the barns, food wrappers, tools, a cat, mice. >> reporter: robert arnold and his wife deanna said they raised concerns with usda officials at the eggs farms perhaps a dozen times. >> i reported it to the usda worker that was there. she seen it and she knows about it and they weren't doing anything about it. they would just let it go. >> reporter: we called the usda. and they told us they had nothing to do with the safety of these eggs. their workers weren't even allowed in the hen houses. they were only there to judge the quality of the eggs. safety rests squarely with the fda. they could have inspected the egg farms, if they'd known about the problems. what about the usda's argument, that it's not our job, we're not allowed to go into the hen houses? i mean, that's technically correct.
6:49 pm
but it's a little sad that they can't pick up the phone and call the people whose job it is. >> reporter: late today, wright county egg told abc news it expects workers to report any issues, and that, to its knowledge, no concerns were raised. that is, of course, until 1,500 people contracted salmonella. lisa stark, abc news, washington. and when we come back tonight. the brawl at the u.s. open, during tennis? [ woman ] nine iron, it's almost tee-time... time to face the pollen that used to make me sneeze... my eyes water. but now zyrtec®, the fastest 24-hour allergy relief, comes in a liquid gel. zyrtec® liquid gels work fast, so i can love the air®.
6:50 pm
6:51 pm
[ slap! ] -[ slap! slap! slap! slap! ] -ow, ow! te foods fighting you? fight back fast with tums. calcium rich tums goes to work in seconds. nothing works faster. ♪ tum ta tum tum tums [ male announcer ] at ge capital, we're out there every day with clients like jetblue -- financing their fleet, sharing our expertise, and working with people who are changing the face of business in america. after 25 years in the aviation business, i kind of feel like if you're not having fun at what you do, then you've got the wrong job. my landing was better than yours. no, it wasn't. yes, it was. was not. yes, it was. what do you think? take one of the big ones out? nah. we're following a massive evert quake that struck the heart of new zealand today.
6:52 pm
thousands have lost power and buildings have crumbled. the quake hit in the middle of the night. some minor injuries have been reported. no tsunami alerts for the pacific. and here is something you don't see every day at tennis. a fight breaking out in the stands at the u.s. open. a woman taking offense to some foul language from a fellow fan. the woman's father comes to her defense, but then watch this. he soon takes a tumble in the seats. even the players on the court had to stop playing, and those fans, they were tossed out. when we come back here, the woman who suddenly stood up at the emmys, more than once. our "person of the week." introducing precise from the makers of tylenol. precise pain relieving cream works quickly to activate sensory receptors. it helps block pain signals fast for relief you can feel precisely where you need it most. precise. only from the makers of tylenol.
6:53 pm
precise. i love running my tongue across my teeth and feeling all the stuff i missed. [ male announcer ] no one really wants plaque left on their teeth, done. [ male announcer ] but ordinary manual brushes can leave up to 50% of plaque behind. oral-b power brushes are inspired by the tools professionals use, to clean away plaque in ways a manual brush can't. for that dentist-smooth, clean feeling every day. fight plaque with real power. oral-b power. get 50% off oral-b power brushes for a limited time. visit oralb.com for details. no oil has flowed into the gulf for weeks, but it's just the beginning of our work. i'm iris cross. bp has taken full responsibility for the clean up in the gulf and that includes keeping you informed. my job is to listen to the shrimpers and fishermen, hotel and restaurant workers and find ways to help. i was born in new orleans. my family still lives here. bp is gonna be here until the oil is gone and the people and businesses are back to normal...
6:54 pm
until we make this right. but with advair, i'm breathing better. so now, i can join the fun and games with my grandchildren. great news! for people with copd, including chronic bronchitis, emphysema, or both, advair helps significantly improve lung function. while nothing can reverse copd, advair is different from most other copd medications because it contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator, working together to help you breathe better. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking advair. i had fun today, grandpa. you and me both. if copd is still making it hard to breathe, ask your doctor if including advair will help improve your lung function for better breathing. get your first full prescription free
6:55 pm
and save on refills. and finally tonight here, the woman who stole the show at the emmys this week. in the middle of all those stars, steals the show right here tonight. our "person of the week." she was the woman who stood up right in the middle of the emmy's, again and again and again. her smile brighter than the stars all around her. the hbo movie, "temple grandin," won seven emmys, and that woman is temple. born in 1947 in boston, her mother had no idea why her daughter wasn't talking, wasn't smiling and wasn't hugging. she was diagnosed with autism. and temple's mother was told
6:56 pm
what so many other parents at the time were told, too. >> it's been suggested that it may be a lack of bonding with the mother, that at a crucial phase the mother was cold, aloof, when the child most needed physical affection. >> but that is not what happened. >> reporter: temple's mother would not give up. actress claire danes portrays temple in the movie. >> she was one of the first people to challenge these completely absurd and very accepted theories of autism. autism was meant to be the product of a frigid mother. >> reporter: instead, temple's mother took her to a neurologist and speech therapy. the kind of intervention unheard of at the time. a move temple herself told us today changed everything. >> i think it's absolutely awful that mothers went through all of that pain and they were blamed for something they didn't cause, you know? autism is a neurological disorder of the brain. it varies from someone who is non verbal all the way to the geniuses of silicon valley. i cannot emphasize enough the
6:57 pm
importance of early intervention education. >> reporter: as we grew older, her family would recognize temple had a remarkable mind. cataloging images and fixating on moving objects. easily able to understand how they work. and then the summer that changed her life, visiting her aunt's ranch. temple could see in animals what most of us could not. >> danny is looking at you, see, he can see all around without moving his head. >> so how do you know where he's looking? >> his ears, he points his ears where he is looking. see, he's looking at you. >> i just love that scene with the horses ears. one of the things that helped me in my work with animals is i'm a visual thinker. the movie did a fantastic job in showing how my mind works visually. there's a scene in there where a whole bunch of shoes in rapid succession. my mind is like google for images. >> reporter: temple would go to college and then graduate school for animal science. championing the way animals are treated in this country. and in doing so, became a
6:58 pm
champion for the autistic children who would follow. and when the movies won top honors, a hug for the producer from the little girl who once couldn't do it. >> oh, absolutely, i was hugging everybody that night. >> temple. >> mother, stand up, there's. please stand up. >> reporter: giving credit to her mother there. and so we choose temple grandin. and it turns out the night of the emmy's was her 63rd birthday. and we asked her where is the fancy gown. she said, i have a farmer's tan, you don't want to see that. temple, congratulations and happy birthday. for diane and all of us, good night.
6:59 pm
captioned by closed captioning services, inc. this is the million dollar celebrity invitational. introducing today's guests-- she earned an emmy nomination for her role as claudette wyms in the fx series "the shield,"

152 Views

info Stream Only

Uploaded by TV Archive on